Lieutenant Governor, RK Mathur inaugurated a workshop on “Entrepreneurship Development; Opportunities in Leather and allied products” in Leh on July 14.

The day-long workshop was organized by the Industries & Commerce Department, UT Ladakh in collaboration with Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), as part of Aazadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

LG Mathur expressed happiness about the healthy number of participants in the workshop and thanked Director CSIR-CLRI Dr KJ Sreeram for handholding the entrepreneurs of Ladakh.  

Speaking about the stigma attached to leather use, LG Mathur highlighted that leather has been part of Ladakhi culture since time immemorial. He added that his vision for the leather industry is household-based but driven by an entrepreneur. He said raw material is readily available for this handloom/handicraft industry. 

He said that CLRI is the premier institution and urged the youth to make the most of the available opportunities. “UT administration is committed to handholding the youth in their quests. The youth should take the first step”, stated LG Mathur.

He stated the instance of the Pashmina industry where many young first-generation entrepreneurs have stepped in successfully and stressed his vision of developing various “Made in Ladakh” products.

Secretary, Industries and Commerce Department, Saugat Biswas, informed about various initiatives being taken for the betterment of the youth of Ladakh. He said that discussions have been held with CLRI about the various opportunities.

He added that there's a lot of potential in terms of leather in Ladakh and informed that a lot of people are engaged with National Rural Livelihoods Project and self-help groups who are more into manufacturing development. He added that a little intervention in design, technology, and expert institutions like CLRI can go a long way. 

He further informed that the Industries and Commerce Department is planning a similar workshop program in Kargil on 16 July for which the registration has already been started.

Speaking about plans, he said that the department in collaboration with CLRI is planning to organise extensive hands-on workshops in the villages. A team of CLRI will engage with the artisans of Chushot and Kargil and hoped that the workshop will go a long way to make a positive impact in the sector.
Director, CSIR-CLRI, Chennai, Dr KJ Sreeram spoke about the leather industry in India. He stated that India is the second-largest exporter of footwear, saddler and leather garments, while India stands fourth in the export of leather boots.

“There are 4.5 million people who are directly employed in this sector and much of them are from the downward or downtrodden people who are extremely poor,” he stated.

Dr Sreeram stated that Ladakh has great potential in the said industry as the quality raw material available is not utilized to its full potential. He further added that leather product development is a good chance as an investment to develop a product is quite low and can start with a very small investment.

Stanzin Palmo, an entrepreneur working with leather along with other fabrics, shared excerpts from her success story and urged the youth to come forward and benefit from such programs.

Dr Nishad Fatima, Sr. Principal Scientist, CSIT – CLRI, Sarravana Kumar, Operation/Technical Director, Reflections Leather Pvt. Ltd (Kanpur) and local entrepreneur Rigzin Yagdol of Looms of Ladakh were the resource persons at the workshop. During the course of the program, experts introduced the participants to leather as a product, tie-dye method in leather and shared their success stories.